Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 22 i Australian Country Homes

Renovating an 1890s home in the NSW New England city of Armidale has been a true test of determination for retired pharmacist David Hodgson and his wife, June. As David wryly observed when Australian Country Homes came to visit, they had been working on it for the better part of 20 years, so they could hardly be accused of making any hasty decisions. “When we’d bought it in October 1988, we’d recently returned from the UK where we’d lived for eight years,” June explains. “We wanted to live not too far from Toowoomba, where we both had family, but somewhere where we could enjoy four distinct seasons. Armidale had the feel of a town on the cusp of going places.” The fact that there was a pharmacy for sale was…

On a rolling hilltop in the Samford Valley north of Brisbane, an old chimney and single hoop pine pierced the landscape. Driving past, Leonie Kearney’s attention was captured, as if beckoned for a makeover. She had no idea the property was for sale when coincidence struck. “One day the real estate agent drove us up a driveway and I kept hitting Terry in the back seat of her car, she recalls. I realised this was the same place and that I wanted it desperately, but it needed a lot of work.” Up at the weather-beaten homestead, there were no gardens to speak of yet Leonie thought the two enormous Moreton Bay figs, two hoop pines, a big silky oak and a mango tree were indicators that establishing gardens would be…

Leaving home to attend boarding school is a big decision for any parent and their child. For Caulfield Grammar School boarding students, the experience has been life changing. Boarding families recently shared their thoughts around this big decision — the most challenging things about leaving home to attend boarding school, tips they wish they’d known when first leaving home, and the best things about boarding life at Caulfield Grammar. Year 12 Boarding Co-captain, Madi, arrived from Victoria’s Mansfield in Year 10 with no connections and no idea what boarding would be like, but definitely made the right decision. “Morcom boarding house is like a second family — you can go to anyone for a talk or advice and you’ll 100 per cent walk away laughing and smiling. One of the…

Living and raising a young family in a large heritage house in the middle of South Australia’s Clare Valley may sound like a romantic fantasy, but for Alice and Andrew Duncan sometimes it feels more like a cold, hard dose of reality. The Duncans moved into the grand stone homestead at Hughes Park, on a scenic winery drive three kilometres from Watervale in the midwinter of 2013. Even though they’d just completed a significant renovation, they very quickly discovered what it meant to live in a house that had 60 centimetre-thick stone external walls and 50cm internal walls. “It’s like a bunker,” Andrew says. “A storm can rage all night, but you wouldn’t know until you ventured out.” “And in winter it’s extremely cold,” Alice adds. “We installed heating in…

Initially built in 1856 by JTC Ballerstedt, Fortuna Villa was a somewhat humble double-front, two-storey villa with eight rooms and a semi-basement. Ballerstedt built the villa close to his quartz-crushing mill, the first on the Bendigo goldfields. Between 1858 and 1869, substantial construction work was carried out on the home and crushing mill. Local architects William Charles Vahland and James Getzelman added a further three rooms to the south wing of the villa while incorporating some of their own romantic classical style, and the ballroom/dining room was also added. However, the real story begins when Fortuna Villa and the mine were sold to George Lansell, later to be known as the “Quartz King”, in 1871 for the sum of £30,000. Originally from Margate, England, George moved to Bendigo in 1853…

NECTRE FORM 2 Enjoy heat from a product designed for modern Australian homes with the Nectre Form 2. This wood heater is clean and modern when it comes to aesthetics, with a large, curved glass door that offers owners a captivating view of the fire within. Of course, looks alone don’t make a good heater, and the Nectre Form 2 doesn’t disappoint when it comes to performance. This wood heater produces low emissions despite its incredibly high heat output, and even includes a wood stacker for convenient storage. The Nectre Form 2 is Australian made, and you can find out more about it by visiting nectre.com.au REAL FLAME VIVENTE Stay warm in style with Real Flame’s Vivente. This electric fireplace offers four installation configurations (one-, two- or three-sided) and three…

My husband has a childhood memory of a vast apple tree that grew near his family home in Shropshire in England. Its gigantic branches loomed above his head and the tree had to be climbed to pick the ripe fruit. He can’t reconcile the small, neatly pruned trees in our backyard or in the commercial orchards in our part of north-west Tasmania with that childhood memory. In part, it’s that he’s reliving a child-size view of the tree — but also he’s remembering a tree that wasn’t grafted onto dwarf rooting stock. Wild or ungrafted apples grow into huge trees around 6–8m high and 4–5m wide. Dwarf rooting stock, along with rootstocks resistant to apple pests such as woolly aphids, came about from work done at the East Malling Research…

Promotional feature Within the blossoming flora of Red Hill, spread across a vibrant 22 hectares, is a home away from home; Canberra Grammar School (CGS) has been a committed family environment for its boarding community since 1929. This school is renowned for the uniquely warm and welcoming educational experience it provides for its students. As an independent Anglican School, CGS respects and nurtures all students as individuals. The school seeks to inspire, support and celebrate the efforts of all in realising their intellectual, spiritual, cultural, social and physical aspirations within a community guided by Christian values. Building on the professional expertise of its staff, the commitment of its community and the resources of the nation’s capital, CGS caters to a diverse range of learners and strives to be the most…

When architect and designer Georg van Gass was commissioned to build a second dwelling on a sprawling family property in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Westcliff, he was up to the challenging task. This structure would have to nestle into the ground’s natural rocky ridge, remaining hidden from the main house, and, at the same time, exploit the incredible views across the canopy of the world’s largest man-made urban forest. The site came with specific challenges: the local heritage association had to be consulted to give consent to build on the slopes of the elevated ridge; and municipal bylaws also meant that, as an additional dwelling, the total enclosed area of the new building could not be more than 110m2. Rather than limiting Georg’s design, these two factors informed the…

After meeting at high school and spending most of their lives tied to work commitments and their boys’ schooling in and around Adelaide, Chris and Bruce Wright were presented with an appealing alternative. Bruce had an option on a project management role in an environmentally sustainable residential project near Victor Harbor, close to Goolwa on the Murray River, and the timing was perfect. The Wrights’ sons, Toby and Zac, had flown the coop, but wanderlust and joie de vivre remained with the couple, making the decision to relocate surprisingly simple. Chris was overjoyed when they found a retro seaside cottage in Goolwa, not only for its funk factor but also for its potential to showcase her wares. As an aficionado of the ’60s and ’70s and curator of an extensive…

A dedicated coffee and tea station at home is a luxury indulgence no longer limited to professional baristas. Creating the perfect coffee bar can be as simple as incorporating the right machinery, products and layout Whether you fancy a latte, a long black or a creamy cappuccino, many would agree that indulging in that first sip, first thing in the morning is one of life’s simple pleasures. It’s a small moment to be enjoyed before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. “In the face of adversity, everyday rituals and routines make us feel grounded and more appreciative of the little things,” reflects Tennille Burnup of Tennille Joy Interiors. “When one cannot function without a coffee first thing in the morning, the coffee machine becomes their shrine. It’s an…

If you think moving house is a tough gig, spare a thought for Clare Valley couple Kay and Walter Duncan, who moved not just contents, but an entire building and their commercial rose-growing business, when they relocated from Watervale to Sevenhill in 1999. Walter had grown up at Hughes Park, his family’s grand Clare property, which is featured earlier in this issue on page 30. For more than 20 years, he ran a commercial heritage rose garden on the farm. But Hughes Park and its large heritage stone homestead belonged to his family’s trust, so in the late 1990s, Kay and Walter decided to make way for the next generation and buy a place where they could establish a property of their own. “We found our new home relatively easily,”…